Ice Cream Shop

51 Church Hill Rd., Newtown, CT - (NOP) HON-E

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Posted By Michael Stern on 4/11/2003 4:45:00 AM

Studies show that New Englanders eat as much ice cream in the winter as in the summer, but at The Ice Cream Shop in Newtown, it's a warm-weather thing. Open from April into October, this old-fashioned drive-up stand has no indoor dining facilities at all. There are a few picnic tables outside, and on weekdays when it's not too crowded, there is a bit of sheltered standing room inside around the order windows.

That small interior is a fun place to be, and one of the reasons we like the place so much. The walls are plastered with hundreds of snapshots that fans of The Ice Cream Shop have brought in over the last three decades, most of the pictures showing people enjoying their ice cream cones. It is a warm and friendly decorative scrapbook that has just the right festive mood for enjoying ice cream.

Ice cream is made on-premises, and it is fine. Not deluxe, $3+ per pint type stuff, but good, honest ice cream: perfect for sundaes and sodas and double-dip cones. In addition to hard ice cream, soft chocolate and vanilla are always available. And while we almost always order the same thing -- basic chocolate cones -- we very much appreciate the vast opportunities on the menu for countless varieties of float and shake and some two dozen toppings for sundaes.

Note: The Ice Cream Shop is especially convenient for travelers along I-84. It's just a few hundred yards away from Exit 10.

Scorecard

Overall: Excellent - Worth a Detour

ice cream cone	Sundae

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Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"Just yards from I-84, this little shop has been making ice cream eaters happy for more than a quarter century."
Michael Stern

"Ordering the "large" sundae entitles you to three different flavors of ice cream. This one is mint chocolate chip topped with buttercrunch topped with Almond Joy. And they're topped with hot fudge, chopped nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry."
Michael Stern

"Just part of the wide-ranging menu posted on the walls around the order window"
Michael Stern

"Freshly-painted picnic tables for ice cream eating al fresco"
Michael Stern

"The walls inside The Ice Cream Shop are a patchwork history of happy eaters who have come to lick cones and sip sodas."
Michael Stern